Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. We had our usual holiday dinner at Kim’s parent’s house on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas Day, Kim, Dakota, the dogs and I opened presents and played a few games. A relaxing time for all of us.
I finished off the craft fair season doing 25 events this year, compared to 24 last year. Unfortunately, my sales were down about 18% from last year. However, most vendors I talked with said they were down as well. I already have 15 events scheduled for 2024, with more in the pipeline. Keep you’re eye open in the newsletter for more information about future events or on the Events Page on my website. I did have two more winners of the $10 Amazon Gift Cards from the drawings I did at each event. Avalyn and Sam have been contacted and received the gift cards. Here are a few pictures of several buyers from my last couple of events in December.
Here is a picture taken of myself and these two ladies at the Grandview High School Craft Fair. I saw their t-shirts when they walked by and thought they were hilarious. I told them I’d post it in my next newsletter.
I do still have a few paperback books sitting on the shelf at home. If you’re interested go to the form on my website, fill it out, and click Submit at the very bottom and I’ll get them signed and shipped out right away. Normally within 24 hours.
Exciting news, as I learned two of my books were listed in the top ten of best books of 2024 by Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews. Lethal Blues was #2 while Divine Retribution was #5.
Reviews continue to come in for the audiobook version of The Divine Devils. My narrator Phillip Polite does a wonderful job on the book. Here are a couple of those new reviews.
This book was not my normal genre but I am very glad I branched out, I was a little concerned at first that the number of characters introduced so quickly would be hard to keep up with. Fortunately the author did an amazing job at introducing them and giving you their story and weaving them together perfectly, So many twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat through out and even had my gasp out loud a few times once in a busy store as I was listening while grocery shopping. I am so glad I branched out of my normal read – Christina
This story was action packed with some mystery and drama. I’m looking forward to more books by the author that may becoming available through audible. The narration performance was great and Phillip showed his versatility – Daneisha
If you listen to books and have an Audible account, be sure to add this to your listening list. You can find The Divine Devils on Audible via this link. I do still have a few promo codes for Audible versions of The Divine Devils for the US and UK. Just send me an email for more information.
Speaking of reviews, I could use more reviews for my two latest releases, Lethal Blues and Divine Retribution. Reviews for both books have been wonderful but on the low side. If you’ve read the books, I’d appreciate you posting a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Bookbub. It would really help to boost those books, especially on Amazon with their algorithms.
In 2023 I released two books and I hope to have two more released in 2024. As I promised last month, I have news on those two books. The first I’m working hard on is a new book in the Jarvis Mann Private Eye series which I’m about 77k words into writing. This will return Jarvis Mann with a new case and will include the trial of Simon Lions Junior. Those who have read my previous books will know him from my award-winning book, The Front Range Butcher. The story is coming along, and I’ll be reaching out to my beta readers in the coming weeks to get early feedback on the story. The working title: Murder by a Hundred Cuts. Keep your eye open for more news on this coming release in future newsletters.
With the end of The Divine Devils Series, I’ve begun work on an idea for a new series. I’ve written a beginning to book one but will hold off writing more until I’m done with the new Jarvis Mann book. But it will feature a former Westminster Colorado Police Officer, who travels the country to solve cold cases. I have his name and the name of the new series, but that is all I’ll tease for now. Keep an eye out for news on this as well.
I’m beginning a new feature in my newsletter which I hope to run each month, where I’ll promote another author I know and their books. This month the author is someone I met at a craft fair years ago. Well, actually I met his wife first as she stopped by my table to say hello. Andre Gonzales is a local Colorado author with multiple books and series, plus his own publishing company, M4L Publishing that he has built from the ground up. We’ve been friends since and he has some very popular books, including the Wealth of Time time-travel thriller series. You can join Andre’s Newsletter via this link and get 4 free Novellas which is a fabulous deal. To learn more about Andre and his books, go to his website or his Amazon Page. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
I’m starting off the new year with two new events. I have one in January and another in February. They are listed below.
This month’s Prolific Works free ebooks begin with Crime Scenes – Mystery and Thriller G.G. which runs until January 15th and includes 18 free ebooks to check out at this link.
Next is Home Alone (…Finally): A Young Adult Novel Giveaway with 13 free ebooks available until January 21st at this link.
And finally Merrystery: A Mystery Book Giveaway with 10 free ebooks available until January 21st at this link.
I will wrap up this month’s newsletter with more pictures from our family holiday. We played miniature golf at night among a sea of Christmas lights and decorations which were breathtaking.
Thanks again for all the support throughout the year. I hope 2024 is prosperous for everyone!!
R Weir
R.Weir 